Calgary Stampede Sees 3rd Horse Death In Less Than A Week

A driver was fined $10,000 for his role in a chuckwagon race mishap.

CALGARY — A chuckwagon driver has been barred indefinitely from competing after a collision at the Calgary Stampede that caused a horse’s death.

“We live and work as a family committed to the well-being of our beloved animals and this type of incident impacts us deeply to the core,” Stampede CEO Warren Connell told reporters Friday.

The Stampede says driver Chad Harden impeded fellow driver Danny Ringuette’s chuckwagon and caused a third rig driven by Evan Salmond to collide with the track’s inner rail, resulting in severe injuries to a horse that led to its death.

It happened Thursday evening in the seventh heat of the Rangeland Derby. Three other horses on Salmond’s wagon had minor injuries.

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian PressThis photo shows teams competing in a chuckwagon race at the Stampede in Calgary. Three horses have already died at the event this year.

An independent chuckwagon safety commission ruled Harden should be fined $10,000 and disqualified from the remainder of this year’s racing, which means he will not be invited to compete in future events.

“We don’t think that Chad deliberately meant to do this,” said Mike Whittle, chair of the safety commission.“We have determined that there was driver error involved in his decision making.”

After viewing video and interviewing judges and the drivers directly involved, the commission informed Harden of its decision late Thursday.

“He provided us his thoughts last night,” Whittle said. “I won’t go into those thoughts, but I will say that we did inform Chad after our meeting and he is processing what we have told him.”

Whittle said he’s not aware of anything like this happening before.

He said Harden could technically ask to be reinstated as early as September, but there is no guarantee he would be allowed to compete again. Whittle said the decision is up to the Stampede, but his commission would be able to give input.